Tyson Foods reported a $52 million net loss for its third quarter, an improvement versus the previous quarter’s $127 million loss, but a dramatic fall-off from one year ago, when the company’s profits topped $131 million.

Today’s reported loss was 15 cents per diluted share compared to a positive 36 cents diluted earnings per share in the same quarter last year. Tyson’s third quarter 2006 sales were $6.4 billion compared to $6.7 billion for the same period last year.

Tyson’s quarterly report is likely to sour investors even more on the firm. Analysts, on average, predicted a loss of 3 cents per share on revenue of $6.63 billion, according to a Thomson Financial poll.

"Our beef, pork and prepared foods segments' operating results improved $126 million over the second quarter, excluding plant closing charges of $59 million," said Tyson Foods CEO Dick Bond. "However, despite improvements, the third quarter remained challenging with losses in the chicken and beef segments.”

Bond cited an ongoing oversupply of chicken as a compounding problem for the company. He also declared that the beef segment performed better in May and June, but not enough to offset a “difficult” April.

Tyson Foods recently announced $200 million in across-the-board cost cuts to return to profitability. Bond referenced those changes in discussing the company’s future results.

"We are taking aggressive measures to return the company to profitability as soon as possible. Our chicken inventories have been significantly reduced from historical highs, and we are reviewing our structure and processes to ensure efficient and cost effective operations throughout our company," Bond said.

Tyson Foods also projected a net loss for the full fiscal year of 41 cents to 51 cents per share, a hint that the upcoming fourth quarter may show little to no losses during the period. For the nine months of the current fiscal year, Tyson is already reporting a 41 cent loss per diluted share.